Wednesday (11/30) on the KPLR Channel 11 news site (St. Louis), Patrick Clark writes, “When Bradford Buckley was in high school he wanted to be a saxophone player in a rock and roll band. But the bassoon beckoned instead. “People say, ‘Where have you played,’ I say, ‘I played everywhere from Harrison, Arkansas, population 8,000, to Tokyo, Japan, population 8,000,000,’ says retiring bassoonist Bradford Buckley. Buckley has been the bassoonist and contrabassoonist for the symphony for the past four decades. A position he’s held since he was 25. But now he`s hanging up his instrument and retiring. … ‘When I got the job here in 1968 my teacher said, ‘That’s an okay band. You go there and learn how to play for real and we’ll get you a job with a real orchestra.’ But this turned into a real orchestra. … To play at this level is a lot of work and I still work at it every day,’ notes Buckley. ‘But, it’s a labor of love.’ ”
Posted December 2, 2011
